Spring-wheel hub.



A. V. MITCHELL.

SPRING'WHEEL HUB.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 9. 191's.

Patented Oct. 9,- 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEETI.-

A. V. MITCHELL.

SPRING WHEEL HUB.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 9. 1913.

Patented Oct. 9, I917.

2 SHEETSSHEET.2.

WITED a AUGUSTA umxrorrnnn, on WAsHIne'ro ,.nrstignrcronoonui rnia.

enema- HEEL time.

, Specification of Letters Patent.

. To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1,, AUGUSTA VQMITCEE ELL, a. citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at city of 'Vvashington, District of Columbia, haveinventedcertain new and useful Improvements in. Spring-l/Vheel Hubs, ofwhich the followingis av specification.

vThis invention has reference. to the con structionof vehicleWheels-adapted to give the necessaryaresiliency without the-use ofpneumatic rubber; tires. I c I It hasjbeen my object to improve: themeans. for. securing the spring spokes 111 such Wheelsto the rim and.also to ,thehub.

It. hasbeen theintention to secure the spokes i in such away thatthey-will not only be novel featuresof the invention-Will be apparentfrom the following description, taken in connection with the drawings.

In the drawings, a

Figure .1 is a side view of a portion of a wheel having myinventionappliedthereto, .the hub proper and its, clamping plates being omitted.

Fig. 2. is a sectionon the line 2-2. of Fig. 1 when the hub and clampingplates are in position.

Fig. 3 is a section onuthe iline 3-3 of Fig, 1 when thelnib and clampingplates are in position.

1* gis a sidei a po on. o a modified form o lispoke receiving member atthe hub. Fig. 5 is a bottom plan View of what is QWn iIl F g,- h: and

w Fig. 6 is a detail view of the end'of a spoke with its reinforcingsprings adapted to .be secured to the rim.

I In the; manufacture j of wheels 7 making use ofthe spring metalspokesforv the purpose of giving. resiliency"; to the wheel, it isnecessary'that the spokes befirmly held in placei againsti lateraltwisting orbending and against rattling, and 1t is desirable that toaccomplish thls result, the spring-spokes be g nder, some normal tenson. In ;;V-16W of the fact that there are a: very; large num PatentedOct. 9, 1917..

Application filed'December 9, 1-913.'- Serial No. 805,599.

ber of vehicles in existence making use of a ig he on t u i n- Wi hpneuma tires, it has vbeernfound desirable to m-ake the spring wheelconstruction in such form that it can be applied to the hubs of, varioussizes -now; in use, on .vehicles so? that the spr ng gwheels may. besubstituted easily for the rigid {wheels l 1 1 t d a i gs rim l carry nga tire, 2 hich.may be of solid rubber, and inil ligs 2 and 3 shown a hubconstruction for holdingthe inner; ends o f the spring spokes. The hubconstructi on may; ,ernb ody. theordinarychub proper 3' whichhas on it aflange i which isuSually iormedg-integrally with the hub, but it; is ,toL be -understood that the manner of securing the flange to .the hubtormsno part of my invention. In Big, 1 I have shown one form; ofspokereceiving; member 5- wl ijch has a. central opening fitting on theQllllBI' CYllllCjlI'lCEtlSHKEELCQ of the hub '3 and against the x f lan,z;e 4. i {This hub member has ra al sl s 6 exten ingiinw om t outer:periphery some distance but notreacliing, the central. cylindricalopening therein, these slotsbeing. avide enough to; just receivetwo endsections 0t adjacent spring spokes, as shownin Fig, 1. ,The member 5 in'the jiormshownin ljig. 1, is cored out between .the slots butleavingsolid portions wh e. t e a peripheral theinner and lower margins of themember.

for; the purposeof strengthening it and a-lso leaving an outer margin 8and anjnner margin 9 connecting thesolidwportions in which the slots areformed Theinnerman gin-o mriin 9 .turnishes abearing throughout its-if11 width .on thehub 3, and since the inner ends of the slots flare atsome distance from this; inner margin, it .Wlll be observed that thecentral opening in-the member may beehanged-ingsize, tofit a hub ,ofalarger size by -;simply. boring it outto a slightly greater diameter.This changeto make the memberifit a huhofa difierent size will. notaifect that portion of themember which holdsthe spokes, and,therefore,no 7 change in ,that' part of, the a device. A clamping. flange.a10-fits over the hub, and, together withtheflange 4L, constitutesmeans fon clarnpingthe ends OfJZhB spokes. in place intheslots 1nthemember 5.. Bolts 11 pass through the .two. flanges and through 1 theI haveshown a Wheel;

ots are formed.- and also leaving flangev or; section 7 connect ngnecessitates I have mem er t t e; or n po q and] serve to draw the twoflanges together against the spokes, and it will, of course, beunderstood that the number of these bolts may be varied in accordancewith the wishes of the particular manufacturer. A locking means 12,shown in the form of a series of segments of a ring, may be placed in agroove 13 around the edge of the member 5, and it will. enter notches inthe sides of the s 'n'ing' spokes so as to lock them against any endmovement. The locking member 12 may be formed of a series of segmentalsections so that any one section may be removed to permit the removal ofa spoke without disturbing the remaining sections, and in manufacturingthe device the locking member may be inserted in the form of a completering which is then cut into sections by the boring operation which makesthe holes for the bolts 11, those bolts fitting between adjacent ends ofthe locking members and holding them against any material longitudinalmovement. It will be understood that the locking member may be used oneither or both sides of the spoke receiving member, the groove for suchlooking member being shown on both sides in the form illustrated in Fig.5.

The spokes which I use are made of bent, resilient metal which issymmetrically curved at the part 15 adjacent the rim, and each spoke hastwo legs 16, 17 extending into the hub where the ends 18, 19 fit in thegrooves or slots 6. Adjacent the hub the two legs of each spoke are bentin toward each other and then curved outwardly away from each other asthey extend out toward the rim. Tne ends 18 and 19 have notches on oneor both sides to receive the locking ring or key 12. At the rim a shortleaf spring 20 is placed on the inside of the bent portion of the spoke,and a short leaf spring 21 is placed on the outside, the curvature ofthe spring 20 being less than the curvature of the portion 1:") of thespoke, and the curvature of the spring 21 being greater than thecurvature of the spoke. Any suitable fastening means may be used tosecure the spoke, together with the springs 20 and 21, to the rim,theparticular fastening means shown in Fig. 6 beinga bolt 22passing'through the spoke and springs and. having a bearing member 23fitting against the inner side of the spring 20. When the parts aredrawn up tight by the fastening means'the springs 20and 21 are placedunder normal tension, the inner spring tending to spread the end of thespoke, and the outer spring tending to con tract it, and thus when thespoke is bent under the strains of actual use, the springs 20 and 21will continue to exert pressure against the spoke whether it iscontracted or expanded. The spokes are placed in the wheel between thehub and the rim underslight tension so that they will always be tightand will not rattle or become loose. The fact that the portions of thespokes l8 and 19 which extend into the spoke supporting member 5 have aslightly greater width than the thickness of the member-,5 makes itpossible to clamp the sides of-the spokes by the clamping plates 4 and10 for a considerable distance, thus preventing side twisting of thespokes.

illie modified form of spoke supporting member shown in Fig. 4 embodiesa cen tral radial web 24 and the solid radial portions 25 extendingacross the web and having the slots 26 therein to receive the ends ofthe spokes. In other words, the spoke supporting member iscored out onboth sides, leaving a web in the center, and the solid portions 25extend entirely into the central opening which fits on the hub proper.These solid portions extend the full width of the spoke supportingmember and thus furnish bearings throughout the full width at intervalsaround the circumference, thus tending to prevent any twisting of themember on the hub proper. The grooves or slots 26 terminate somedistance from the inner opening of the spoke supporting memher, and,therefore, the inner opening may be enlarged by boring to make it fithubs of different sizes. its structural features and its holdingcapacity will be exactly the same when bored out for difierent sizesh 1preferably leave a circumferential web 27 at the outer margin of thespoke supporting member for the purpose of both strengthcnin'g thedevice and on account of the aps pearance. It will be observed that theconstruction is such that the spoke supporting member will be light, butat the same time willbe strong and rigid. The locking ring made insections may be used in the same way in this modification of the spokesup porting member as in that shown in Fig. 1, and the locking membermay be used on either or both sides. A

l laving thus'fully described my inven tion, what I claim is: r

1. In a device of the class described, the combination with a hub, ofclamping flanges mounted thereon, a spoke receiving member fitting saidhub between said flanges having radial slots in its outer margm, springspokes fitting in said slots, a locking ring made in sections fitting ina groove in the side face of said member and in notches in the edges ofsaid spokes, and bolts passing through said flanges and be tween theends of adjacent sections of said locking ring to hold the parts inposition.

2. In a device of the classdescribed, the combination with a hub memberhaving slots extending therein to receive the ends of spring spokes, ofa wheel rim, spokes made up of bent spring metal, each spoke 130 havinga symmetrically bent portion adja- Cent the rim and tWo legs extendinginto the hub, the ends of the said legsentering adjacent slots, the saidlegs being bent in- \vardly toward each other adjacent the hub, meansfor clamping the sides of said ends in said slots for a considerabledistance to prevent side turning, means for locking said ends in saidslots, reinforcing leaf springs fitting on the inside and on the outsideof the bent portion of said spoke next to the rim,the inner leaf springhaving normally a less curvature and the outer leaf spring having agreater curvature than the portion of the spoke to which they areapplied, and means for securing said spoke to the rim and said leafsprings to the spoke, the said leaf springs being bent to fit closelyagainst and to correspond in curvature to said spoke. V

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of tWo Witnesses.

AUGUSTA V. MITCHELL. Witnesses Gnnrnunn M. STUGKER, J. A. WATSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). G.

